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Longing Lore
Description Poise, grace and a flair for the dramatic immediately peg the silver-haired elf as something, but very few guess at her multiple professions on first meeting. Beauty is fully in the eye of the beholder, and she understands that perfectly. With her mutable facial expressions, flowing gestures and gliding step, the dancer changes her approach repeatedly, rarely taking the same tactic twice. Playful melds into threatening as alluring becomes mischievous, and her smile ranges with her moods, making it wholly impossible to guess at what a smile of pure, spontaneous happiness might look like. With the delicately fashioned features of her elven blood, softened by the line of her smooth cheek, curling lashes and soft, plum-shaded mouth, she is a shimmering example of the beauty associated with the fairer race. A brilliant contrast to her moon-coloured hair is her gleaming honey-tanned skin, glinting in light as though she was dusted with gold powder. A life spent in the pursuit of perfection through her dancing, singing, juggling and performing has left her with lithe limbs and a honed shape, slender and yet deeply curved, with the indentation of her minute waist belling into breast and hip. The bard, being extremely petite in structure, has ridiculously tiny feet and small, finely-boned hands. Illuminating her face are the long eyes which hint at what lies beneath the actress’s façade, and with large violet irises, they are her best feature. Framed by sparkling silver lashes and slightly tip-tilted, they change expression, mirroring her face, unless the pupils begin to dilate. With varying speed, her eyes will become glinting onyx, and then it’s assured that the past has brought itself vividly into the present to colour all that she sees. Her bones become much more prominent as her cheeks hollow, and the smile that brushes her lips is rarely pleasant. From the curve of her svelte back sprout an astonishing feature: feathered wings, reaching a span of ten feet, extend from her narrow shoulders. With a varying hue- the feathers begin as iridescent silvery-white, deepen to a glimmering amythest before turning into a rich, sparkling ruby at the tips- her wings are a blaze of shining colour, mimicking and highlighting her colouring. Folded on her back, the top arch of her wings reaches the tips of her delicately pointed ears, while the trailing ends of her ruby-coloured flight feathers brush the backs of her knees. Clothing is little more than an extension of the image she chooses, and it changes as often as her smile. One day, she may cover every inch of skin in violet and black velvet, and the next she will blithely stroll the road in a scrap of sheer pink silk and naught more. If it provides easy movement and catches the eye, she will try it at least once. When her back is bared, thin lines of pale gold are visible, crisscrossing her slim shoulders- old scars that never fully faded. A tiny curiosity mars the skin of her throat- a miniscule, heart-shaped brand, nearly imperceptible at a glance, is evident near the base of her neck beneath her right ear. Adornment is something she used to give great thought to, but now every piece of jewelry decorating her form has a purpose. A pendant signifying her membership in the Dumari’ei Society rests in the hollow of her willowy throat. On her right hand, sparkling from the middle finger, is a gold band holding an arrangement of garnets shaped into a butterfly. Her left hand bears a mithril band, intricately etched, with a large violet gem set in the centre. This gem gives off a soft, purple glow, and lights the room with a dim illumination when she stands in the dark. Although she rarely removes her wedding ring, the elf will occasionally slip it off of her hand to read the inscription- a flow of Elvish which reads "Never to cage, never to crown." Many cultivate an air of mystery, but few are trained in the use of it. The performing elf, when she chooses to draw on the training of the theatre, becomes impossible to ignore, whether her show entices, enrages, enraptures or enlightens. Personality A gracious loser one moment, a flirtacious tease the next, and if one were to blink, she is then a rapacious adventurer, or is she now a tender caregiver? What characterizes her best of all- perhaps the most constant thing about the dancer- is how swiftly she changes her approach to everything and everyone. Her sense of humour is a bit dry, and her wit has a tendancy to pick at those who consider themselves "experts" in their fields, but as with her expressions, her reactions to those around her adjust with no external rhyme or reason. If she has greeted someone warmly one day, it's plausible she'll forget their name the next and blithely stroll away with a callous toss of her head. The woman who will never reveal her full name- Lore is all that anyone will ever know of her, and that is the way she plans to keep it- never reveals her full hand, either. All the better if individuals are unsettled by her, intrigued by her, or repulsed by her. Emotion is a clue to motivation, and that is something she's learned to examine more carefully than her audience watches for an explanation to how she manages to hide those small, fragile glass spheres she juggles so freely. Mood swings flicker across her face with the speed of a deftly shuffled pack of cards, and there's no telling what will be drawn from the deck when at last her violet eyes settle. The ghosts of the past have never entirely left her, and a careless word or bland observation can push her into reliving a dark moment as easily as a slap can cause her to laugh. Who says that insanity is restricted only to those who name sewer rats or scream endlessly into the corners of their rooms? She learned long ago that screams will bring her nothing but pain, and laughter is so much more pleasant to listen to. Derangements: *'Borderline Personality Disorder'- characterized by impulsive, self-destructive behaviour and suicidal tendancies *'Intellectualization'- characterized by a cold, calculated demeanor and distancing of self *'Obsession'- characterized by an unrational, unreasoning attachment to a person, place, thing or idea *'Regression'- characterized by a mental return to a previous state of self *'Catatonia'- characterized by lack of communication with the world at large and physical immobility *'Classical Conditioning'- characterized by a physiological response to a conditioned stimulus Background Mother: wingless avariel {Seremela Seregon} Father: silver elf {Elessar Telrunya} Age: 117 -parents had an affair after Lore's father used levitation spells to grant her mother moments of flight. -discovering she was pregnant, Lore's mother returned to Elessar and asked to stay until the child was born; Elessar offered marriage, but Seremela avoided the topic -Lorelei Telrunya-Seregon was born in late winter, called "Lore" by her father as an affectionate nickname. A spellcaster, he whiled away many hours by reading to her from his books -Seremela, hating the isolation and low land of Elessar's keep, abandoned the pair shortly after Lore's fourth birthday -Elessar, desperately in love with the wingless avariel, swore that he would do everything in his power to find a way to give her wings to lure her back to him -Lore essentially raises herself to the age of thirteen when her father's madness degenerated into a delusion that Seremela was simply off on a flight with the wings he'd obviously managed to grant her, and that she would return soon -At the age of seventeen, Lore's father called her his "longing," having never told her what her full name was, and died of starvation -Isolated in the keep nestled between two warring countries, Lore remained hidden until her ninteenth year -Caught by a roaming party of warriors while gathering herbs, she was assumed a spy for the nation of Quamara and taken to Holone for questioning -Jandar, the prince of Holone, believed Lore's explanation as to why she had been in the forest so close to the border, and insisted that she remain as a guest; unwilling to be in debt, she offered her singing ability as entertainment for the feasts -Giilvas, king of Holone, despised Jandar's interest in the wayward elf singer, and stated that she wasn't good enough. Jandar immediately had Lore placed under the tutelage of the kingdom's best artisans, and with the growing romance between the two elves as inspiration, her innate talents were soon blooming -Giilvas's death left Holone in chaos, which led to a brief flare of the centuries-old war between Holone and Quamara. Demonstrating remarkable military strategy, Jandar wins the war and establishes himself as monarch -First act as king was to wed Lore- by the age of twenty one, she was considered a living work of art due to her dedication to performance- and crown her queen -Two years of bliss ended when Quamara- having gathered mercenaries- rampaged through Holone and sacked the capital city of Erlshade. The battle took Jandar's life and Lore was taken as a prisoner of war. -Escaping from the encampment where prisoners were held, Lore traveled north through the forest for several days before the miscarriage brought on by the mercenaries' rapes left her unable to continue -A slaver from Quamara found her and added her to his collection, taking her to the city of Rosenquist. -Sold within a week to a noble named Rodrique Spurius, Lore was taken to his compound west of Rosenquist and handed over to the healers. -Seven years passed, during which she was trained to be the jewel in Rodrique's collection. Learning singing, juggling, sleight of hand, manipulation and dancing, Lore attained a level of perfection that only desperation could accomplish -At the age of thirty, having reached physical maturity, Lore was slated to be a gift to the lord of Rosenquist- a govenor named Gaius Aulus. However, Rodrique's lavish wealth had angered the govenor, and Gaius had the man slain in an attack on his compound. Lore escaped during the razing of the building. -Traveling south to Tornglara, a city resting on the coast of Valiyus, she learned the art of street performance from a cheerful bard who called himself the Runemaster. -A year in Tornglara, and the Runemaster framed Lore for the murder of one of their usual patrons, a noblewoman who had spurned the Runemaster's overtures. Lore fled Tornglara and headed further west to an inland city, Willowithe. -At the age of thirty one, Lore's encounter with a pickpocket introduced her to the criminal underground, and the young elf's ability with performance impressed Shyr, the leader of a band of assassins. Using her as a front, Shyr found that it was much easier to get into noble houses for reconissance when Lore could open the doors from within, usually after bedding the lord of the house -By the age of thirty-five, Lore had been working with Shyr- a half-elf bastard who reveled in ignoring his elven heritage- closely and had been used as a spy to learn of the movements of the noble class in Willowithe. -Before her thirty-sixth birthday, Shyr was caught attempting to assassinate a merchant and imprisoned. For clemency, he gave up the names of his associates and Lore was arrested. -Sold to a slaver, Lore was transported north to a mining community where she was removed from the collection of slaves intended for mining and installed in the community's whorehouse. -At thirty eight, Lore's slavery contract was purchased by a nobleman who wanted a decoration for his summer home and taken southwest to Aloevan, a city that had an academy dedicated to developing the arts. -From what she learned by associating with slaves who worked in the academy, Lore refined her techniques while serving the nobleman Braegen as what he called "a living decoration." -Braegen's heart attack, shortly after Lore's forty-third birthday, left her with freedom she hardly knew what to do with and a weakness for strawberries that would never leave her. -A decade spent at the academy in Aloevan put her at the position of an instructor, and Lore was settling comfortably into her role and home when Shyr came to Aloevan and threatened to expose her previous criminal dealings unless she came with him -Traveling with Shyr throughout Valiyus, she worked under his direction as a combination assassin/spy. Using her talents to get into a household, she would linger until the proper information was gathered and either deliver it or kill the appropriate person as directed. -When Lore turned sixty-seven, she managed to catch Shyr off-guard by poisoning his ale, and a well-placed dagger released her from his employment. -Returning to Aloevan, she found that the academy had been closed down, replaced with a school for spellcasters. Offering her services as an entertainer, Lore was hired on and attempted to settle into her role once more. -An infuriated brother arrived in Aloevan after Lore's eightieth year, and publicly accused her of killing his sibling. From the city of Sarra- one which Shyr had found particularly profitable- he had chased after Shyr and learned of Lore's presence in the households where deaths occurred. Tracking her back to Aloevan, he arranged for her arrest and took her back to Sarra -En route to Sarra, Lore used the wiles learned so painfully at the feet of her owners and lured the man into loosening her bonds. His death swiftly followed, but she hadn't counted on trying to escape a mindless construct while chained. -Captured, she was taken to Sarra and prosecuted for both murders. Her execution was scheduled, but her guards were precisely the sort of men Lore was used to handling, and she escaped the prison before the executioner had arrived in the city. -Thirty years passed as Lore wandered through the small villages of Valiyus, avoiding the larger cities in case of bounties. Her talents kept her fed and clothed, but fear of legal reprisal for past crimes sent her onto a ship bound for Saphage. -Per her luck, Lore found herself back in the company of criminals when she arrived in Saphage in the city of Cadbridge. A minor pickpocket with an eye for beauty followed her as she headed into the desert, and Neil wouldn't take no for an answer. -Introduced to the desert settlement of Silverdune, Lore endured Neil's company for a year before finally sloughing him off with a dose of poison in his evening ale. -A small venture through Cadbridge to begin exploring Saphage brought her into the company of a ranger named Ormond. A human with a talent for drumming, he was intrigued by the elusive elf's quiet ways, and when he learned she was a dancer, challenged her to match a beat he set. Her ability made him smile, and a tenative partnership was born. -Six years of traveling through Cadbridge's rougher taverns and entertaining in Silverdune established the pair as a talented team and lovers. Ormond's dream of a home with children ended the night he proposed marriage. A wrong word and Lore killed him, burning their tent with his body inside and fleeing to the docks of Cadbridge. -Rather than be accused of Ormond's murder- she may have been the only one who associated with the ranger, but relatives had the worst luck of showing up- she boarded a ship bound for the small town of Treegum to attempt finding a place for herself anew. Accomplishments * Employing Jitsuri Soshi as bodyguard. * Establishing employment to Rizzen Oussep. * Earning membership in the Dumari'ei Society, centered in the Cadbridge Majestic * Took control of a group of bandits while establishing herself as a budding member of Silverdune's slave trade * Married Rizzen Oussep in Cadbridge's Temple of Ty'dronis * Suffered a bout of severe catatonia after an affair with Glelia * Was walked through a strange series of choices after Rizzen made a deal with a half-drow spellcaster to have her mind reached despite the catatonia * Emerged from the series of replayed life choices with a pair of multi-hued, feathered wings- a mark of her mother's avariel blood Affiliations * The Cadbridge Majestic- member of the Dumari'ei Society * Silverdune- slavery trade, Pasha of Silverdune Moments of Life * Past Ghosts * The Unnamed Cost * An Unattainable Ideal * Heals All Wounds, but the Scars... * How the Mad Mind Works * In the Lawless Desert * On the Heels of a Strange Night * A Veritable Laundry List, No? * Two Steps Back, One Forward * Idle Hands * In the Blood & Ale * Living Decoration, Indeed "What am I?" "Dancer. Singer. Slave. Juggler. Storyteller. Villain. Actor. Love interest. Queen. Assassin. Thief. Wife. Spy. Damsel in distress. Caregiver. Adventurer. Choose your role, and I will tell you how I have stood within it. I am a living decoration, and once I was called the embodiment of an unfulfilled promise. What am I? ...that is for you to decide." '' :::::::::::: ''~Longing Lore Category:Player Characters